Psalm 95:1-11
“Let us Worship and Bow Down”
Addressed:
- Why should we worship God?
- Who is this God that we worship?
- How shouldn’t we worship God?
- What is worship?
Proposition: Let us worship and bow down to the LORD because of who He is, and let us avoid doing it in an improper way.
Psalm 95
1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways."
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."
As to message structure, I would intro this message with a brief look at what worship is, then I would probably go to prayer before the meat of the message. This Psalm is written in two distinctive parts, and thus, my proposition is two parts. Another option would be to take Psalm 95:1-7a and separate that out from 7b-11, though 7b-11 has an important message about heart condition that I do not want to neglect. This text includes several cohortatives (‘let us’) – pleas and urges from the Psalmist, in this case to praise and worship the LORD. This section of urging is divided into two segments – both are parallel. The first segment tells us to sing and make a joyful noise to the LORD (1). The second segment tells us to bow down and worship the LORD as well as to kneel to Him (6). Reasons as to why are given in each segment of the call to worship. Interestingly, the two segments show us that we can worship the LORD via songs of praise as well as via kneeling before Him in adoration. Even more, the reasons as to why we should worship are extremely important. The first segment highlights the absolute attributes of God – He is Great, Sovereign, and the Creator of all. He rules over all (3). He owns the earth, from the nadir to the zenith (4). He made both the sea and the land (5). We are to come to Him joyfully and with thanksgiving (2). The second segment highlights the attributes of God in relation to us. The text shows us who God is to us and who we are to God (6-7a). He is our Master and Maker, and our God (6-7a). We are the people of His pasture (obviously only if we are part of His fold, 7a). Thus, the first two parts of the message are based on the calls to worship the LORD in verses 1-7a. We are called to and thus should worship the LORD based on Who He is absolutely as well as Who He is in relation to us.
The second part of the proposition is related to the prophetic warning given by the Psalmist relating to the Israelites’ wandering in the wilderness. The Psalmist is saying that these people went astray (note the continuance of the sheep imagery from verse 7a). The references to Massah and Meribah refer to Exodus 17:7 and Numbers 20:13, in which the people of Israel (Exodus being the event, Numbers being the remembrance) were rebellious against God in doubting His presence. Moses then hit a rock at the LORD’s command, and water came out as a sign and provision of God (cf. Exodus 17:1-6). The important part here, as highlighted in Psalm 95, is that the people hardened their hearts against the LORD, and as a result, they did not enter into the LORD’s Rest (Promised Land, possibly and likely with further implications). Thus, the text gives us a solemn warning. The first part is a call to God-honoring worship, and the second part is a call against God-provoking heart-hardening. The text is useful in teaching us that we are to keep our hearts open and soft toward God. Thus, we are to avoid hardening our hearts, and in contrast, we are to worship the LORD. My outline would be structured as follows:
Introduction: What is worship?
- A loving response to God.
- A meeting between God and His people (cf. Webber 20)
- Devotional: a means to sanctification (Webber 104-5).
- Sacrificial obedience to God (Webber 24-5).
- Praise often “rooted in an event” (Webber 25)
I. Let Us Worship the LORD because of Who He Absolutely is (1-5, cf. 6)
-----A. Appeal to worship the LORD (1-2)
----------1. Let us sing to the LORD (1)
----------2. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation (1)
-----B. Reason: Because of God’s Attributes (3-5)
----------1. Majestic (3)
---------------a. Great (3)
---------------b. King (3)
---------------c. Above all gods (3)
--------------------i. Dahood: Contrast between “God’s supreme power” and “the ineffectiveness of foreign deities” (353)
--------------------ii. Above all [false] gods (implicit, 3)
----------2. Sovereign (4, 5a)
---------------a. Owns earth from the nadir: “depths of the earth” (4)
---------------b. Owns earth to the zenith: “heights of the mountains” (4)
---------------c. Owns the sea (4)
----------3. Creator (5, cf. 6)
---------------a. Made the sea (5)
---------------b. Formed the dry land (5)
---------------c. Is our maker (cf. 6)
Summary: This section deals with who God is absolutely. The characteristics of God being Great, Sovereign, and the Creator of all things show us that God is truly amazing. Who God is absolutely thus is reason for us to worship Him.
II. Let us Worship the LORD because of Who He is in Relation to us (6-7a)
-----A. Appeal to worship the LORD (6)
----------1. Let us worship and bow down (6)
----------2. Let us kneel before the LORD (6)
-----B. Reason: Because of who God is in relation to us (6-7a)
----------1. God --> People
---------------a. He is our Maker (6)
---------------b. He is our God (7a)
----------2. People --> God
---------------a. We are His people (7a)
---------------b. We are the sheep of His Hand (7a)
Summary: This section deals with who God is in relation to us. This should also give us proper reason to worship the LORD, as it is our due response to Him.
III. How not to Praise the LORD (7b-11, cf. 7a)
-----A. Meribah/Massah – wilderness (8)
----------1. Massah: Exodus 17:7
----------2. Meribah: Numbers 20:13
-----B. They put the LORD to the test, even after seeing the miraculous (9)
-----C. They went astray in their hearts (10)
----------1. Astray – sheep imagery (as earlier in the Psalm, cf. 7a)
----------2. This is obviously a negative example that should not be followed (10)
-----D. They did not know the ways of the LORD (10)
-----E. They will not enter the LORD’s rest (11)
Summary: This section presents a warning against hardening your hearts as the Israelites in the wilderness. Do not harden your hearts! They strayed from God and did not know His ways, and thus, as we see throughout Numbers, the people were massively punished and did not see the Promised Land of Canaan.
Application:
1. Worship the LORD based on Who He is absolutely (1-5)
2. Worship the LORD based on Who He is in relation to us (6-7a)
3. Do not harden your hearts, but rather worship Him (7b-11)
Tie with next week: We have seen from Psalm 95 the reasons as to why we should worship the LORD, and we have seen how not to worship the LORD. Next week, we will look at a text highlighting how we should worship the LORD.
